Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho, whose name has featured prominently in the alleged plot to assassinate Deputy President William Ruto, has lodged a complaint with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), citing harassment by the country’s second most powerful politician.
The PS made the complaint on a day that detectives investigating the assassination claims raided a cybercafe on the junction of Magadi and Lang’ata roads, where it is suspected the alleged letter at the centre of the assassination claims was authored.
Detectives are said to be pursuing the suspects behind the letter.
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At the same time, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri distanced himself from a group of four colleagues who have been meeting under the umbrella of Mt Kenya Development Group, saying “he is a CS to serve all Kenyans and not a tribal grouping”.
Kibicho, a powerful PS in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government, complained that Ruto and his allies have been harassing him, sometimes making unsubstantiated remarks against him in public.
According to sources at the DCI, Kibicho claims the DP and his supporters were inciting the public against him, thereby “threatening my life as a public officer”.
“Part of his statement indicates that the bashing and utterances by MPs allied to the DP are making it difficult for him to move freely around the country to execute his duties. He indeed looked disturbed,” said the officer.
JKIA incident
According to the officer, the PS claims that the outbursts by MPs are meant to ridicule, embarrass, harass, intimidate and scare him from executing his mandate.
He is said to have cited an incident at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) where he said Ruto confronted him over allegations of frustrating his visits across the country and “almost roughed him up”.People Daily exclusively reported the incident.
The PS went to the DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road on Tuesday at around 7pm and left at around 9.30pm. He entered DCI director George Kinoti’s office where his statement is said to have been taken by an assistant inspector general of police in the directorate.
Though Kibicho was widely expected to record a statement about the Mt Kenya caucus meetings, which he allegedly coordinated, the PS instead filed a complaint.
Contacted by People Daily yesterday, he declined to comment on the matter, only saying: “I have no comment and let whatever is being investigated be investigated to conclusion.”
Kinoti also declined to discuss the PS complaint, but commented that his officers were making some progress in investigations on Ruto’s assassination claim.
“We will brief you once we are through with our investigations. Just remain patient and give us time to undertake our work professionally,” said Kinoti.
Sources said the purported letter from a CS to the President, dated May 30, could be part of an elaborate plan to frustrate the PS. Almost a month after the letter was written, its authenticity is still in question.
Offensive
In the letter, the purported CS requests to be exempted from the Mt Kenya leaders meetings and revealed that Kibicho had organised a caucus whose agenda was to shore up support for the President, backing for the proposed referendum and to “go on the offensive against H.E. the DP”.
By yesterday, Ruto was yet to record a statement, with detectives saying he was still adamant on the conditions he had issued, among them that he can only be interviewed by Kinoti.
He also wants the CCTV footage of the meetings made public.
On May 15, Ruto confronted Kibicho at JKIA and accused him of sabotaging his tours to launch development projects across the country. The two were among officials who were at the airport to welcome Uhuru from a visit to Kigali, Rwanda.
The DP is said to have demanded to know why Kibicho had instructed county commissioners and police commanders not to provide security at his functions.
However, Kibicho had blamed the DP’s office for failing to furnish him with his (Ruto’s) itinerary in the counties, adding that his impromptu visits were to blame for the absence of senior security officers at some of the functions.
Complainant
Last evening, Ruto’s spokesman David Mugonyi declined to comment on Kibicho’s harassment claims, saying: “I don’t know anything like that. I have no comment.”
On Monday, CSs Peter Munya, Joe Mucheru, Sicily Kariuki, head of Presidential Delivery Unit Andrew Wakahiu, Petroleum PS Andrew Kamau, and Energy PS Joseph Njoroge, reported to the DCI headquarters after being summoned by detectives over the Ruto assassination claims, but did not record statements because the DP has not recorded one as a complainant.
They all denied the accusation.
“There was no meeting to plan to assassinate DP Ruto. It is irresponsible, unfair and intended to portray us in a very bad light,” Munya said.
, adding that they would decide on what action to take once investigations are completed.
